The Gramarye Prestige
by Schwerelos
Summary: A retelling of the Gramarye Legend and its demise. Spoilers for all of Apollo Justice. Inspired on The Prestige, of course.


**Characters:** Magnifi Gramarye, Thalassa Gramarye, Valant Gramarye. Minor 'voice-over' appearances from Trucy, Phoenix and Apollo.  
**Spoilers:** For all of Apollo Justice.  
**Summary:** A retelling of the Gramarye Legend and its demise.  
**Notes:** Inspired on The Prestige, of course. (It was begging to be written.) I read about Dmitri's name somewhere on the net and loved it, hope that's okay.

* * *

**The Gramarye Prestige**

**The pledge**

Magnifi Gramarye.  
His sole name caused surprise in every person all over the country.  
He was, after all, the best illusionist the world had ever seen.  
He was indeed very talented, his presentations never failed to amaze every single person. All the time.  
Always.

_"Grandpa sure was talented!"_

_"You think, Truce?"_

_"Oh, I know! He could do tricks like you can win games, daddy!"_

_"Did he? I would've liked to see that."_

_"Oh, daddy, it would've been wonderful! He was the best there ever was!"_

Magnifi Gramarye had one daughter.  
His pride and honor.  
He used to say at that time that his daughter was the most incredible trick he had ever achieved.  
Her name was Thalassa.

_"Thalassa?"_

_"Yes, daddy!"_

_"That's a pretty name."_

_"Isn't it?"_

_"But not as pretty as Trucy."_

_"Oh, daddy, you're just saying!"_

Thalassa grew up in a magical environment. Around tricks, illusions, wonder and amazement.  
Of course, under the spotlight as well.  
Her father only grew in reputation as she grew older and more beautiful.  
One day, after her father had finished one of his weekly performances, Thalassa walked up to him and told him:  
"_I want to be a magician too, father."_  
He couldn't have felt prouder.

_"She was a magician too, right?"_

_"Yup! The prettiest there ever was! She amazed the crowds not only with her looks, but also with her abilities!"_

_"Sounds like an astounding woman indeed."_

_"Oh, if you'd been able to see her, daddy!"_

_"Maybe one day."_

_"How so?"_

_"When you grow up."_

_"Daddy!"_

When she was fifteen years old, Magnifi Gramarye surprised his daughter with a convocation for young aspiring magicians.  
A sort of academy, he told her afterwards, he wanted to pass on the trade to a young man worthy of being his heir.  
That day, Thalassa met the three young men that would define the rest of her life.  
Their names were Dmitri, Zak and Valant.

**The turn**

All three of his apprentices turned out to be quite talented, for which Magnifi was very pleased. His own daughter was quite skillful when learning the arts of the trade, as well. Soon, he'd be able to retire and one of these fortunate young men would marry his daughter, his reputation would pass on and the Gramarye name would live forever.  
He was very pleased indeed.

Dmitri and Thalassa fell in love. He had always been the more playful during the rehearsals and he made it more than clear that he intended to court the daughter of his master. Magnifi had thought that it was all going according to his original plan, so when the young ones asked him for permission to get married, he agreed.

Things had been going well until the dreadful day when Dmitri decided to leave the troupe to form a magic company of his own, with the intentions to take Thalassa away with him.  
Magnifi was furious.  
He refused and forbade him to return, to see his daughter, to ever set foot close to their house ever again.  
He left, leaving Thalassa pregnant and heartbroken.  
His name was banned from the Gramarye household.

Neither Zak nor Valant mentioned anything during those difficult times. Both had been fascinated with their fellow magician and that incident hadn't managed to discourage them. Especially after Magnifi forced Thalassa to get rid of the baby once she had it. Thalassa cried and cried for endless nights afterwards. She didn't want to know anything about magic, about her father, about either or her comrades for a long while.  
Time would pass and the wound would heal.  
And Magnifi Gramarye would make sure that none of that would happen ever again.

Years later, Thalassa married Zak Gramarye.  
He had managed to conquer the heart of the lady in the end and Magnifi had approved the union because of Zak's loyalty.  
All in all, it had been a joyful outcome.  
The only one that hadn't thought of it that was had been Valant.

Zak and Thalassa had one daughter not long after their wedding. A baby girl, beautiful as her mother. They named her Trucy.

They kept practicing all the time. Magnifi was very close to his retirement when they decided to come out to the public as the Troupe Gramarye. All three of them were part of it: Zak with the rings and balls, Thalassa with the cards and Valant with the doves and rabbits.  
They were a huge success.

**The prestige**

Zak had a daring attitude.  
Always challenging, always trying something new, always wanting to be better. Magnifi liked that very much. He would certainly do all he could to live up to the Gramarye name, unlike Valant who always seemed such a passive student. He was talented all right, but he never stood out. He thought it had been one of the reasons why Thalassa had noticed Zak and not him.

Zak came up with a daring closing trick for their performances. It would be called "Zak and Valant's Quick Draw Shoot'em" and they would shoot blanks at Thalassa while wooing the crowd. Thalassa had patiently agreed and Valant, even if not completely convinced (he was still fascinated with her) had accepted to participate in the end.  
The crowd loved it, of course.

All had been going more than well until Zak decided that using real bullets instead of blanks would make the trick look more realistic. Valant refused. They argued endlessly about that for days until Valant made Zak agree that real bullets would be too dangerous and they would keep using blanks.  
Zak had agreed.  
But he hadn't obeyed.

The only thing that Zak and Valant could remember from that day was the roar of the two pistols and the image of Thalassa's body falling to the ground.  
To never get up again.

_"So, both your parents and Mr. Valant worked together, right?"_

_"Yup! They were all part of the Troupe Gramarye."_

_"Sounded like they were pretty successful."_

_"They were! Not as renown as grandpa yet, but they were getting there. Mom and dad and uncle Valant."_

_"You will be wonderful as well one day, you know?"_

_"You think, Polly?"_

_"I know it, Trucy."_


End file.
